tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post797727804742262950..comments2024-02-17T04:06:00.805-05:00Comments on Just Not Said: Genius and masculinityJohn Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-38913822419063860862016-10-13T08:12:24.339-04:002016-10-13T08:12:24.339-04:00Gethin --
Interesting, thank you. I'm not a ne...Gethin --<br />Interesting, thank you. I'm not a neurophysiologist, I'll defer to you on all this. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-22203174880026284752016-10-13T05:00:14.591-04:002016-10-13T05:00:14.591-04:00There's probably a different explanation to te...There's probably a different explanation to testosterone for why so many effeminate men have been creative. Studies link increased cerebral blood flow and a high ratio of glial to neuron cells in the parietal region of the brain with creativity. Unlike neuron cells, glial ones can replace themselves and synesthise the excitatory neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is responsible for learning and memory (acetylcholine levels drop as we age; this is why older people tend to be more forgetful).<br /><br />Low latent inhibition (LLI) might explain the lack of masculinity in creative men. People with LLI are overwhelmed by incoming information, so they notice things that others overlook. If you're constantly mesmerised by the world around you, silently thinking about atoms, you're hardly going to spend your time doing masculine activities like bodybuilding.<br /><br />Men and women have different sorts of IQ: if you look at an IQ bell curve, women tend to be around the average, whereas men are more likely to inhabit the extremes (this is probably due to variations in brain structure, which would, as you suggested, be due to testosterone exposure (in utero): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10234034). This is why there aren't any female Einsteins and why there are fewer female high school dropouts.<br /><br />- GethinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-51734685482453292782016-07-20T23:47:30.365-04:002016-07-20T23:47:30.365-04:00Puzzled --
Oh, come on, there will be very few tra...Puzzled --<br />Oh, come on, there will be very few trannies there. And if you're talking about Caster Semenya, she's not a tranny but someone who was born intersex, or hermaphroditic, so you can hardly blame her for being what she is. <br /><br />Yes, Alyson Felix is a beautiful specimen, though she won't be at her best this summer, as she has an injured ankle and didn't even make the team in the 200 (she did make it in the 400). <br /><br />Yes, Ethiopians and Somalians look nothing like West Africans. Somalian women in particular are quite beautiful. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-85959789534572926552016-07-20T21:02:46.647-04:002016-07-20T21:02:46.647-04:00Yeah that was me.
I'm boycotting the Olympics...Yeah that was me.<br /><br />I'm boycotting the Olympics. They are going to have tranny's competing - no way! <br /><br />But you read my mind sort of. One of my favorite competitions is (or used to be before the tranny invasion) the women's sprinting. Those black ladies are gorgeous, especially the ones who don't dope. :) Alyson Felix is a lovely young lady. As is Malia, she is graceful & exotic looking. She takes after her East African father, and with the white blood came out looking Ethiopian. (They are racially mixed, this is proven by gene studies.)<br /><br />PuzzledAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-13396684236273804722016-07-20T18:53:40.708-04:002016-07-20T18:53:40.708-04:00Puzzled --
Malia is the older one, Sasha the young...Puzzled --<br />Malia is the older one, Sasha the younger.....Okay, gotcha. <br /><br />Well, we're about to watch the Olympics in a couple weeks (I am, anyway), so let's get ready to be envious, I guess. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-30363894082411191532016-07-20T18:45:22.447-04:002016-07-20T18:45:22.447-04:00No, I don't want to exchange lives with them. ...No, I don't want to exchange lives with them. I'm not envious of them as men. I can envy physical superiority. I've seen black women who are tall, lithe & graceful as panthers. They don't all look like Leslie Jones, or Moochelle Obama. Take a look at the older daughter (I always forget her name).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-37296928047143789292016-07-20T18:18:23.468-04:002016-07-20T18:18:23.468-04:00Puzzled --
I suppose I envy some of them their phy...Puzzled --<br />I suppose I envy some of them their physicality too, but REAL envy consists of wanting to exchange entire lives with another person. Are you that envious? I'm not. <br /><br />Also -- I'm assuming from a couple of your comments that you're female -- why would you be envious of men when you're a woman? John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-70649313176311421662016-07-20T18:01:24.596-04:002016-07-20T18:01:24.596-04:00"Anyway, yeah, I've seen homeless guys in..."Anyway, yeah, I've seen homeless guys in the summertime with six packs that white guys who spend hours at the gym could never hope to achieve."<br /><br />Exactly - that was my point. I'm not surprised that elite athletics are wildly disproportionately black. What's surprising is that the superiority works its way down to the general population and you see these gapeworthy specimens everywhere. I <br /><br />don't know why it's surprising. Maybe I mean dispiriting and I don't want to admit it. I envy them the way I don't envy geniuses. <br /><br />PuzzledAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-55297128662435885502016-07-20T16:02:36.189-04:002016-07-20T16:02:36.189-04:00Puzzled --
There's absolutely no question abou...Puzzled --<br />There's absolutely no question about that. Blacks (both men and women) have higher levels of testosterone and the muscles to match. And the results in sporting events bear that out. In the past 8 Olympics, 8 out of 8 of the finalists in the men's 100 meter dash have been black. Coincidence? The NBA is 80% black, and the NFL is 60% black. (And blacks dominate the speed positions the NFL.) The physical differences between blacks and other races are just as obvious as the mental differences (though somewhat less controversial to point out).<br /><br />As far as the speed, btw, it's not just more muscle, it's how the body is constructed. Blacks have longer legs for their body length (as well as longer arms), bigger gluteal (butt) muscles, longer thighs, which makes for better sprinting, and a higher proportion of fast twitch muscle fiber. <br /><br />Anyway, yeah, I've seen homeless guys in the summertime with six packs that white guys who spend hours at the gym could never hope to achieve. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-10142044123302967142016-07-20T15:54:34.306-04:002016-07-20T15:54:34.306-04:00Not to change the subject but just adding this obs...Not to change the subject but just adding this observation. <br /><br />I was in a fast food restaurant yesterday. (Yes, I eat in them.) The clientele was at least 50% black, although the area is 99% white. The blacks/Hispanics are almost always workingmen.<br /><br />I notice that on the whole, the black men can be very high level specimens. Not saying there are no white men like that, but they won't be found in the labor pool of blue collar work in my nabe. There was one black man who was frankly built like a god. A Greek god, with black skin & African features. This man could have been a pro athlete of some sort except that he would be competing against other black men. The bar for pro athletes is very high. For black athletes - out of sight.<br /><br />I would venture a guess that this body type: beautiful proportions, magnificent natural musculature, etc., is more common among black men than any other race.<br /><br />Nature makes up for the black IQ deficit by giving blacks a higher "MQ" - muscle quotient. Nature assigns no value system to any of this. In a different epoch, we would value the muscles more than the brains.<br /><br />PuzzledAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-77467261887774744112016-07-18T19:26:46.526-04:002016-07-18T19:26:46.526-04:00Ed --
That could very well be a factor. Just think...Ed --<br />That could very well be a factor. Just think, would the average boy today rather be a young James Watson, or a young Lebron James? <br /><br />And, this is somewhat beside the point you're raising, but would the average boy rather end up as the 70-year-old James Watson, or the 70-year-old Mick Jagger? (Not that Jagger is a good example of someone who has a lot of testosterone.) But yeah, you're right, being locked in a lab thinking about theoretical things doesn't appeal to a lot of people. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-40139411288471323802016-07-18T18:06:06.519-04:002016-07-18T18:06:06.519-04:00Could it be as simple as this:
Very high testos...Could it be as simple as this: <br /> <br />Very high testosterone men are more likely to be spending their time hunting, conquering, engaging in sport activities, and having sex with lots of women? As you mentioned, focus – and also time invested – are a factor. Would very high T men be happy locked in the lab their entire lives? <br /> <br />EdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-10600287094438602112016-07-18T17:39:35.776-04:002016-07-18T17:39:35.776-04:00FAKE BABA --
Yes, actually on virtually every beha...FAKE BABA --<br />Yes, actually on virtually every behavioral trait you can think of, Asians are at one end and blacks at the other. I've seen some of those charts by Rushton, it's amazing how many differences he details. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-28605494715949599742016-07-18T16:45:27.172-04:002016-07-18T16:45:27.172-04:00Speaking of great innovations, this is how I cut t...Speaking of great innovations, this is how I cut the top of the bushes behind the pond. <br /><br />http://imgur.com/gallery/IIRUhBA/newStevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15276736643046430370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-57589059890203076932016-07-18T15:30:42.538-04:002016-07-18T15:30:42.538-04:00okay, I will go ahead and scoop out the one part o...okay, I will go ahead and scoop out the one part of Rushton next to this blogpost's thesis...<br /><br />I forget based on what data, but, Rushton arranges Africans at one end with high testosterone and low intelligence, Caucasians in the middle with high testosterone and high intelligence. and then Asians with low testosterone and high intelligence<br /><br />which does, on a group basis, bear resemblance to your talk about individual manhood and genius<br /><br />==== FAKE BABAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-2896853748209026952016-07-18T14:09:34.084-04:002016-07-18T14:09:34.084-04:00Ambivalent Misanthrope -
I deliberately stayed awa...Ambivalent Misanthrope -<br />I deliberately stayed away from writers just because judgment of them is so subjective. Generally nobody argues about Shakespeare or Tolstoy or Dickens, but after that it's just too easy to get bogged down in opinion. With the guys who came up with calculus, there's less room for subjectivity. <br /><br />Yes, the Aspergers theory for people like Newton and Einstein does make sense. <br /><br />My first thought about the ectomorph thing was that these guys were neither the personally aggressive types one tends to associate with mesomorphs, but also not lazy (as we tend to think of endomorphs as being). But that's just a vague, unthought-out theory. I was struck by the serenity in some of their faces, but that may have been partly a function of the artists who drew the earlier ones. Fast metabolizers clearing out toxins makes as much sense. But I don't know. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-61053233335425439862016-07-18T13:19:35.180-04:002016-07-18T13:19:35.180-04:00And I am still chewing over your observation that ...And I am still chewing over your observation that many of these guys were ectomorphs. Hmmm.. Genius-fast metabolizer link. Wonder if that is also politically incorrect? Hehe. Not sure, but regardless, it's a fascinating correlation. Fast metabolism is also hormone-related, but the hormones in question are not related to gender. I'm speculating that fast metabolizers clear toxins out of the body at a faster clip, and that has to be good for brain function. Come to think of it, all the ectomorph men I've ever known were fairly bright.The Ambivalent Misanthropehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05474535975093833773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-61281841539900973002016-07-18T12:15:19.444-04:002016-07-18T12:15:19.444-04:00I agree with your reader Steven above that male ge...I agree with your reader Steven above that male genius is related to a specific type of creativity, namely a technological/inventive kind. Male brains tend towards systemizing and female ones towards empathizing, which is why there are some superlative women writers, poets and --- actresses, too. <br /><br />Historically, women were not afforded the same opportunities as men in terms of education and personal development, so I am sure that many a brilliant female went by the wayside. Also, nothing will bring outside creative activity to a screeching halt as childbearing and childbearing. Raising children is extremely labor-intensive, in every sense of that word. <br /><br />But I suspect that even with a level playing field, women would not make the cut with the likes of a DaVinci. That kind of creativity is linked with an extreme 'male' brain-type of intelligence. There is an autism researcher, Simon Baron Cohen, that speculates that autism is a case of extreme male brain gone haywire. People with ASD's often demonstrate a type of tunnel-vision, obsessive systematizing, and poorly developed language and social skills that sometimes go hand-in-hand with technological/mathematical genius.<br /><br />The Ambivalent Misanthropehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05474535975093833773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-83153965727065590202016-07-18T10:50:36.208-04:002016-07-18T10:50:36.208-04:00Puzzled --
I hadn't heard of Emmy Noether, not...Puzzled --<br />I hadn't heard of Emmy Noether, not that that means anything. I consider myself numerate, but know nothing of higher math. <br /><br />Your last two comments were illustrative of what you mentioned in passing in your comment before those, about why this shouldn't be a controversial topic -- but is. <br /><br />Almost no one who comments on this blog does so under their real name, which I understand perfectly. The thought police are everywhere. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-23974687320922814462016-07-18T10:44:15.873-04:002016-07-18T10:44:15.873-04:00Mark --
Thank you for researching that. I stand co...Mark --<br />Thank you for researching that. I stand corrected. <br /><br />I do remember hearing that about girls outscoring boys on the verbal portion, but that was probably decades ago. I've also heard that girls get better grades on average than boys (this, too, may be outdated), but I don't see that as a function of IQ, but the different natures of boys and girls. (Boys being more likely to have ADD-like natures, and being more rebellious, girls being more likely to be well behaved.) John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-61804956715017283782016-07-18T10:38:41.854-04:002016-07-18T10:38:41.854-04:00Actually, Noether would be on anyone's list as...Actually, Noether would be on anyone's list as one of the great mathematicians of the 20th century. She absolutely did make "breakthrough" discoveries - although you'd have to ask a mathematician to define them.<br /><br />The comments are fine as they are. I am so sick of being anonymous. There is something liberating about signing your name to your opinions but right now I can't risk it.<br /><br />PuzzledAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-20516929711289022822016-07-18T10:35:00.244-04:002016-07-18T10:35:00.244-04:00John Craig writes: "[W]hat about the statisti...John Craig writes: "[W]hat about the statistic that girls outscore boys on the verbal SAT?"<br /><br />I wasn't able to find the statistic you're referring to. In fact, I found the opposite. For instance:<br /><br /><b>Females now score 36 points below males on the Math portion of the SAT and 4 points <i>lower</i> on Verbal.</b><br /><br />Source:<br />http://www.fairtest.org/sat-act-gender-gaps<br /><br />Additionally, only college-bound boys and girls take the SAT test, whereas the I.Q. statistics we were talking about apply to the entire population.Mark Caplanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15157338755022593966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-32865228796571914732016-07-18T10:20:16.790-04:002016-07-18T10:20:16.790-04:00Puzzled --
You're fine, you never used your re...Puzzled --<br />You're fine, you never used your real name. If you still want me to delete it, I will. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-4496427890211407272016-07-18T10:17:29.471-04:002016-07-18T10:17:29.471-04:00Puzzled --
I don't think anyone would argue th...Puzzled --<br />I don't think anyone would argue that women have had the same opportunities as men have in the past. But that still wouldn't account for the huge disparity in accomplishment at the highest levels. <br /><br />And yes, there have been brilliant women who have accomplished a lot. Marie Curie was another. But she, like Noether, wouldn't quite make the cut as far as the most towering geniuses who made breakthrough discoveries. <br /><br />I haven't been to Chartres, but I have seen some of the great cathedrals, and yes, they are mind-boggling. The Chinese had a more advanced civilization than Europe for thousands of years, but then, somehow, once the Europeans got the ball rolling in the 1400's, they just left everyone in the dust. <br /><br />And I agree, the existence of differently shaped (and situated) bell curves for different segments of the population should not be controversial. But, given the reigning politically correct sensibilities, it is. In fact, there's nothing more controversial. Which, in part, is what makes it so interesting. John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794535954827182754.post-71403480473097318912016-07-18T10:07:03.281-04:002016-07-18T10:07:03.281-04:00Mark --
But what about the statistic that girls ou...Mark --<br />But what about the statistic that girls outscore boys on the verbal SAT? John Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08729625146043379286noreply@blogger.com